Berlin police seek 21-year-old after vehicle crashes into crowd during LGBTQ+ parade

LONDON — A manhunt was underway early Sunday in Germany, where police identified a 21-year-old man who allegedly drove a vehicle into a crowd during Berlin’s LGBTQ+ celebrations on Saturday, killing one person and injuring several others.

Berlin police released a photo of the man, whom they identified as Abdul B., using only an initial for his surname, as is common under German privacy law.

“Abdul B. is alleged to have injured several people with a moving vehicle in the Tiergarten area at approximately 10 p.m.,” according to a joint statement released by the Berlin Police and Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“Everything we are seeing here indicates that this was an Islamist terrorist attack,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said at a press conference Sunday.

Dobrindt also updated the number of injured from 17 to 29, “including several who sustained serious injuries.”

The suspect rammed into the crowd with a vehicle, Dobrindt said, after which “he then attacked other pedestrians with a bladed weapon, believed to have been a machete, seriously injuring them.”

Dobrindt confirmed earlier police reports that the suspect, whom he described as a “German citizen of Lebanese descent who was born in Germany,” had “an extensive criminal record, showed signs of radicalization, and was associated with the radical Islamist scene.”

“He was previously sentenced in Berlin to one year and ten months in prison. The sentence was commuted to parole, and prosecutors appealed the decision,” Dobrindt said. He did not provide details about why the suspect was sentenced to prison.

“The search for the suspect is currently the top priority,” according to Dobrindt.

Details about potential motives for the attack were not immediately released.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin to celebrate Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations, according to the city.

The two-day event was scheduled on Saturday to include a parade, which was to begin in Mitte, in central Berlin, wind its way south into Schöneberg, then turn back northward toward Brandenburg Gate.

The vehicle crashed into the crowd in Tiergarten Park, according to law enforcement, an area along a footpath within the park and near to the parade’s end.

“One or more people are believed to have subsequently fled the vehicle,” police initially said. “Furthermore, several people are reported to have been injured with stabbing weapons.”

Several of those who were injured had life-threatening injuries, the Berlin Police told News.

The suspect was described by police as having a “slim build.” They said he was about 1.9 meters tall, or about 6 feet, 3 inches, with black hair. He was wearing a black hoodie and white pants, police said.

“If you encounter this person, under no circumstances should you approach them or have any direct contact with them,” police said. “They may be armed and dangerous! Immediately contact the police emergency number 110.”

The police on Saturday called off the rest of the celebrations for the night after the incident at the park.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday described the vehicle crash as a “heinous act,” adding that “people from all over the world were peacefully celebrating” during Christopher Street Day.

“They wanted us to treat each other with kindness and tolerance,” he said on social media. “This is an attack on our society.”

News’ Rashid Haddou, Felix Franz, Jamie Dorrington and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.